The Unwed Mothership Connection
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day two hundred and sixty-five: A reimagining of "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World" and Quinn's relationship to the Unwed Mothership Connection


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th cycle. Now cycle 13!_

* * *

**"The Unwed Mothership Connection"  
Quinn & the UMC**

*** For reference: If you look at them when they're all lined up before the song, it goes as follows *  
* Rose, Allie, Ryan, Dana, Christy, Ashleigh * **

She'd never envisioned the day when she'd find herself relying on 'girls like that' for counsel, friendship… the pregnant ones. They'd all see them, around school, but they'd just… look away. But Quinn couldn't look away anymore… She'd gone and become one of them.

Then one day, she'd run into one of them in the bathroom. She knew Dana; she'd almost been one of them, a Cheerio. No one knew about this though. The only reason Quinn did was because of her relationship with Coach Sylvester. Dana had been invited to join the team… on the very same day she'd seen a clear plus sign appear. So when the coach had extended the invitation to her, she'd found an emotionally wounded girl who'd just been dumped by the boyfriend who'd gotten her in this situation.

As the two girls had found themselves face to face, there was a moment of hesitation. Quinn would readily admit it, she'd made fun of Dana after her secret had come out. The jokes had stopped a few weeks later, of course… Still now she wasn't sure she should…

"You know for a while I thought you'd stopped saying things about me because… you saw it wasn't right, or some other kind of self-revelation… and I thought 'well, good,' and it made me feel better. Then we heard about you, and… I wanted to be upset, but then I thought 'well it'll all just turn into some vicious cycle, won't it?'"

"Yeah," was all Quinn could say.

"Look, why don't you come and say hi at lunch. You know where to find us." Dana left it at that, left Quinn standing there wondering.

She knew who she meant by 'us.' There were six of them, and though they didn't exactly go around the halls together all the time, you could always be sure to see them by at least two or three at a time, but then all at once, at lunch… There was Dana, but she was really the only one she knew beyond a name and general impression.

There was Christy, with a bit of a tougher attitude… Ashleigh and Allie, who'd managed somehow to strike up a friendship despite the fact that they'd been impregnated by the same guy. There was Ryan, who always seemed to roll with the punches. The last one was Rose, who had been hoisted out of shy girl anonymity by this pregnancy. If not for this thing they had in common, they might not have ever bothered speaking to one another… Christy would later comment she doubted they would even continue talking once they'd all had their kids.

Quinn had considered not going to them at lunch, but then came to see this decision as resting on the desire not to be associated with what she herself was, which seemed ridiculous once she considered it, so she'd gone to the table where they all sat, nodding to Dana as she approached. Most of the others looked as though they'd been informed this might happen, though they'd yet to figure what to think of it. Quinn took a seat between Dana and Ryan. The conversation was kicked off with Ryan, in her usual curious disposition, asking Quinn what she was having; she said it was a girl, to which Ryan cheerfully replied she was as well, and so were Dana, Rose, and Christy. Quinn looked to Allie and Ashleigh, deducing then that they were having boys. They nodded, Ashleigh revealing it was twin boys, actually. It was a simple question, but it got the ball rolling.

The ball kept on rolling, over the following weeks. Without really realizing it, she'd become part of this little group. She got to see how Dana had done her a favour, giving her a connection to people who would know what she was going through.

When Mr. Schuester put the funk assignment to them, Quinn had wanted to do it. The others figured it was all a good laugh, but she didn't think so. She could feel it in her already, she knew this song and she just knew she had to do it. It was her, it was Dana, Christy, Ryan, Rose, Allie, Ashleigh… They had become part of her world, and her world was theirs. If no one would share their concerns, their pain, their moments of joy… she would do it.

As they day came, she got up, she stood in front of the club and gave the preface to her song. She may have been with the club but, in her mind, she was with them… the girls, the mothers-to-be.

_[Q, UMC] "This is a man's world, this is a man's world / But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing, without a woman or a girl"_

She was walking with Dana down the hall, the two of them getting looks, the way they were bound to, with more than one of them going by at the same time.

_[Q, UMC] "You see, man made the cars, to take us over the road / Man made the train, to carry the heavy load / Man made the electric light, to take us out of the dark / Man made the boat for the water, like Noah made the ark"_

She came to a stop as she saw Allie and Ashleigh, ganging up on Greg Walters, driven beyond silence in seeing their ex, still not even acknowledging he was weeks away from being the father of three newborn boys. Quinn would sigh, approaching the girls.

_[Q, UMC] "This is a man's, man's, man's world / But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing, without a woman or a girl"_

She walked into the bathroom, finding Christy, usually so together, broken down in having once again deluded herself into believing her boyfriend might come around. Any normal day, Christy would have fought it off, but when Quinn moved to hug her, she welcomed it.

_[Q, UMC] "Man thinks about a little baby girls and a baby boys / Man makes then happy, 'cause man make them toys / And after man make everything, everything he can / Do you know that man makes money, to buy from other man"_

She worked with Rose, in the library. Quinn herself, she had just carried on, but for Rose, there was more to it, like her whole world had depended on it. Eventually it had come out… Good, sweet Rose had been skating by on her quiet nature, all this time, with her parents, too. Only once the pregnancy came, it was as though she was a whole other person… and they didn't trust her. So Rose knew she needed those grades… to show them it was still her.

_[Q, UMC] "This is a man's world / But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing not one little thing / Without a woman or a girl"_

And Ryan, she sat with her, almost trying to soak in her positive vibes. She was chatty, but at the same time she had this warmth, and Quinn needed some of that, too.

_[Q, UMC] "He's lost in the wilderness / He's lost in bitterness / He's lost, lost somewhere / In loneliness"_

As she finished her song, the spirit of her pregnant friends flew off, and she was standing on her own all over again. She breathed out, looking over the faces of the club. As they came to stand, around her, she let them… they filled her world, too.

THE END


End file.
